Olga Shults, Save the Children's programme manager, is holding a girl at Child Friendly Space in Mykolaiv, Ukraine

Olga Shults, Save the Children's programme manager, is holding a girl at organisation's Child Friendly Space in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. *Marta (7) presents Olga with a gift card the children had made during crafts classes. Back in 2022, Olga and her family spent 21 days in her besieged hometown, eventually escaping in late March. During that time, Olga and her family were forced to live in a cellar with barely enough food and no utilities as it was too dangerous to show up outside due intense shelling. The strikes used to start early in the morning and last whole day, with up to 7 massive explosions each hour. After escaping from Mariupol, Olga moved to Kyiv where she would join Save the Children in the summer of 2022. She started as Portfolio Coordinator, but was then promoted to Field Manager for Mykolaiv Office to establish Save the Children's operations and programmes in Southern Ukraine. Now Olga is heading Food Security and Livelihoods programme, that intends to support the economic recovery of war-affected regions of Ukraine through activities that will help the communities to restore economic liaisons, acquire new knowledge, and reinvigorate social and economic development that is currently stagnant. oleksandr khomenko

If violence erupted in your country and forced you to flee, what would you save?

5 min read

22 Jan 2024 Ukraine

Blog by Olga Shults

Food Security and Livelihoods Programme Manager, Save the Children in Ukraine.

Olga Shults, Save the Children’s Food Security and Livelihoods manager, Ukraine, explains the hard choices families have to make when forced to flee.

Olga Shults, Save the Children's Food Security and Livelihoods Programme Manager in Ukraine, holds a girl at the Child Friendly Space in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Photo: Oleksandr Khomenko / Save the Children.

If violence erupted in your country and forced you to flee your home, what would you take with you?

I’m Olga Shults, Save the Children’s Food Security and Livelihoods manager in Ukraine, and I know many families very well who were caught up in the bombs and violence of my country’s war who have faced that choice over the past two years.

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One story that has stayed with me that shows the choices that families are forced to make, is that of Mariia and her three children.

As the war closed in, she feared for their lives and had to make the agonising decision to leave their home not knowing if they would ever return. There was no way she could take everything they needed so she chose the things that mattered to her children the most.

Mariia took their hamster and their dog, and some of the children’s special toys. These might not seem like vital things to have in a crisis – but they eased the heartbreak of losing everything else. As well as the warmth and love of their pets, Mariia’s seven-year-old daughter Liya has her first ever baby toy with her – a cuddly sheep called Be-Be – which is a vital connection with the life she has lost but cannot forget.

The war in Ukraine has torn apart the lives of so many children like Liya. The choice she and her mum faced was the same choice people around the world face every day when conflict and violence threaten their lives. It is a choice I hope you never have to make.

It was a choice I faced too, when my family had to make the heartbreaking decision to flee our home in Mariupol. The city was surrounded, there was no way out. The electricity, water, communication, and heating was cut off. The city was being bombed.

We packed several times and were blocked from leaving several times. Each time I repacked, I changed what was included, and it became more practical.

When we could finally escape, we packed all our food. We took matches and candles, medicine and water. We took documents and jewellery (in case we needed to sell it), our dogs' bowls and our favourite mugs, utensils for cooking on a bonfire, and a tent in case we had to live with the dogs if we couldn't find shelter quickly.

Olga Shults, Save the Children's programme manager, poses for portrait with *Marta (left) and *Lera (right) holding gift cards at Child Friendly Space in Mykolaiv, Ukraine

Olga Shults, Save the Children's Food Security and Livelihoods Programme Manager in Ukraine, poses for a portrait with Marta* (left) and Lera* (right) holding gift cards at the Child Friendly Space in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Photo: Oleksandr Khomenko / Save the Children oleksandr khomenko

I deliberately didn't take my favourite New Year's things and accessories, thinking that I would definitely be able to come back for them. But things are as they are. Would I pack differently now? Of course, when we left, we realised that we almost didn't have any household items. I didn't take childhood photos, some other simple and valuable things for me. But knowing how many people died in my city, knowing how many people were killed in attempts to leave, I believe that we left with everything necessary, with family, dogs, and memories.

This is why I am so proud of working for Save the Children – knowing that we are there to help with everything that families forget and more importantly that can’t fit in a bag.

Thanks to donations from compassionate people like you, we can help families get through the worst when it happens and help them rebuild their lives afterwards. Then we can make sure they’re prepared the next time a crisis hits.

Donate now to help us support children in crisis.

CH1943160_Sharecard V2 Olena, Ukraine - What Would You Save.jpg

Olena*, 17, poses for a portrait at her damaged school outside of Kyiv. Oleksandr Khomenko/Save the Children.

Your support means we can give families the essentials they need to survive – food, medicines, toiletries, warm winter clothes. But more than that we’re there to provide what you can’t pack. Safe spaces where children can play, learn and recover. Mental health care and protection services so children can start to feel safe again. A voice to speak out for them so their needs are not ignored. The chance of an education – so they can build a future better than their past.

In Ukraine, for example, we set up safe spaces with trained psychologists to make sure they receive the expert support they need to recover from the horrors of war. We repair and equip schools and nurseries and build temporary classrooms.

And in areas close to the front line, we distribute tablets pre-loaded with digital lessons to make sure children can keep learning even in the toughest of circumstances.
That’s because we know children need to grow and develop now – they can't wait until the war is over.

Your donation can provide families facing crises across the world with what they need to get through today, and what they need to build a better tomorrow. You can help us prepare better, respond faster and protect longer. Please be part of our global community to help children. Please give what you can.

This is how we help children around the world deal with crisis:

BEFORE: We help prepare communities for disaster – with stronger child protection services, better health care for mothers and children, and improved early warning systems.

DURING: When disaster strikes, every second matters. That’s when we provide life-saving supplies. Food, cash, clean water, shelter. Blankets to keep warm and toiletries to keep clean.

AFTER: We stay to help children recover and thrive – providing access to education, child-friendly spaces, psychological support and helping them fight for their rights.

Learn more about how we support children when a disasters strikes.

Cropped CH11013477 for web The road at Joda border point in South Sudan

Cropped CH11013477 for SCI web, visit CH11013477 for original. More than 600,000 people – both refugees and returnees – have crossed the border into South Sudan since violence escalated in Sudan last April. Every day about 1,000 people are arriving in a region already facing a severe hunger crisis, and the numbers continue to rise as the hostilities in Sudan show no sign of abating. Most people arrive with nothing, having lost their homes and livelihoods. Some children have reported seeing loved ones, including their parents, killed on route. The majority have arrived at the border crossing of Joda in Upper Nile State by foot or on donkey carts, from where up to 200 people at a time are crammed into trucks with standing room only. They are taken to two overcrowded transit centres in nearby Renk, a two-hour journey on dirt tracks in temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) as South Sudan battles its worst heatwave in four years. They usually spend about two weeks in the centres, where food and water are scarce, healthcare is limited, and many sleep outside in makeshift shelters. From there 500 people at a time are packed onto barges for a two-day journey along the Nile to head to other destinations in South Sudan or packed into trucks headed for a refugee camp in Maban. Most of these families have been displaced before. Many fled to Sudan from South Sudan in 2013 when widespread intercommunal violence erupted just two years after the country celebrated its independence as the world’s newest nation. Despite a peace deal in South Sudan in 2018, the country is still facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, plagued by continuing violence, repeated climate disasters, widespread hunger, mass displacement and now soaring prices. Even before the Sudan war, about 9 million people – about 75% of the population ¬– including nearly 5 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance. Since the escalation of violence in Sudan, Save the Children has expanded its operations in Renk to assist families. Staff members are on location from the border to the boats to keep children and families safe, help them on and off the trucks, see to their immediate needs and emotional welfare, as well as reunite unaccompanied children with their families. Save the Children has worked in South Sudan since 1991. The child rights organisation provides children with access to education, healthcare and nutritional support, and families with food security and livelihoods assistance. In 2023, the organisation’s programmes reached over XX million children and this year Save the Children hopes to reach XX million people in South Sudan.